Devices for warming physiological fluids, such as for example whole blood and packed cells, to a desired temperature before providing the warmed physiological fluids to a patient are well known. Once such prior art device is the HOTLINE.RTM. system made by the assignee of the instant invention. Such a device uses a heater and hardwired control for heating a fluid such as for example water to a desire temperature, so that the water can in turn warm the infusate to be provided to the patient via a fluid conduit. Inasmuch as the feedback for such system is hardwired, its feedback response is somewhat limited. Moreover, given the limitation of the display mechanism in the prior art HOTLINE.RTM. device, no meaningful interfacing between the device and the user is achieved.
So, too, given that the first generation HOTLINE.RTM. device is hardwired, in order to determine the integrity of its temperature sensing components, a technician has to physically open up the device, and then test each one of the individual components. This need for disassembling the machine in order to test the integrity of its sensors and other components, needless to say, is time consuming and expensive. Furthermore, the hardwired control circuit for the prior art device does not provide the flexibility or capacity to enable the adding or modification of data that a clinician may want, but which had not been hardwired into the system.